2011-02-18 - Dark Viper: She Said 'No'.
With Cassandra sleeping on Grant's couch again, she ends up spending the day in the gym with him and eatting meals with him and Wilde. When night comes again, Grant offers one of his spare Wildcat masks to Cassandra again to don as a saftey precuation and takes her out on the hunt. The information he gained the previous night was good, and will hopefully be productive. There would be a meeting of the Vipers with the 'old man' at 213 Mission RD. tonight at 11:00 sharp. Wildcat is determined to be there, and early to listen in before interrupting things. He free runs across the roof tops to his destination, keeping an eye on Cassandra to see if she keeps with him rather than wandering off. This is going to be a dangerous test to see if the two can communicate well silently. He can't have Cassandra breaking up the meeting before he is ready, but with the number of attendents expected? Backup is a smart idea. The teen in the mask of the cat follows the cat-man in free running, understanding apparently that she is to remain both nearby and quiet. She is taking care to avoid letting those below catch sight of her. She becomes Wildcat's shadow, making certain that she is seen by him periodically. It's a comfortable comradeship. The talking ones can be fun, but this is nice too. It is something Wildcat can get used to. Soon enough, the two reach the address in question. He motions toward the roof after pulling up short on a nearby building. He takes a running start and leaps toward the higher roof, catching it the edge and pulling himself up to the roof proper with ease. He glances around, noticing a trap door on the roof that likely leads to an attic. Rather than scrambling up after catching the ledge, Cassandracat scales the difficult surface. She reaches the top before long, following Wildcat's movements, doing her best to simply not be noticed by anyone who could be watching. She looks over the trap door, then at Wildcat. Wildcat patrols about the building top, glancing down and around, as well as other roof tops. Only then when he deems it clear does he head to the trap door. He reaches down and pulls at it to test. Locked but it is shabby. He frowns. He could break it, but how much noise would that create? Too much? Are they on a lower floor? Tons of things go flying through Wildcat's head. He looks toward you questioning to see if you have an idea. Cassandra feels the door with her fingers, gently tapping on it in a few places, moving around until she is at a particular spot. She puts her ear to the trap door, eyes closing for a second... When she opens them, she is again upright, feeling the crack of the door for the size of the opening. Not wide enough for her whole hand. Keeping her fingertips under the door she motions with her other hand as though inserting something flat, looking up to Wildcat. Wildcat nods firmly. He reaches into one of his boots - not the one with the pre-paid cell phone - and pulls out a knife. It isn't a fighting knife, but rather one meant for practical use. He holds it out to you, handle first. The girl takes the knife, looking it over to see its quality and strength, then proceeds to use it on the trap door's underside, careful with it to not make much noise. She wedges the door open more with the knife, looking underneath to see exactly what the lock's nature is, then wiggles the knife until the handle is firmly lodged in there. Rather than proceding to pick the lock or something, she simply pries the door up, ruining the lock's metal base and ensuring that without some serious attention, this trap door will never again close properly. She hands the knife back, door open. Wildcat appears properly impressed. With the trap door open and carefully set back against the roof, Wildcat moves to go in first. Normally it is ladies first, and he knows Cassandra can handle her own self, but he is still protective of the girl. It is an attic, and it is small, dark and cramped. Luckily, he sees in the dark. He quickly finds the stairs down and places his ears by it to see if he can hear anything. Nothing...he moves to unhook the stairs and lower them with ease. Cassandra slips in after Ted, glancing around to get her bearings. She seems to operate in low light okay, though not with Wildcat's capability. She avoids making noise, moving with care at Wildcat's side, peering down while Wildcat moves the stairs. It is dusty and dirty here. But soon the two of you are on the top floor. It is also dusty and dirty here. Wildcat glances about and carefully moves toward the stairs. He isn't quite as quiet as you are, but he's silent as well. Slow travel on the stairs reveals what the two of you needed. On the second floor there is some balcony and railing that opens up to the first floor. This is an old place, used to be an old hotel long since closed down. Wildcat winces when he walks across the indoor balcony and the wooden floor creeks with old age and disuse. Still, the talking the two of you can hear from the old open dining room more than covers it up. For the most part, Cassandra seems to avoid making the same squeaking sounds, though she also steps closer to the walls, where the floor is much less likely to make creaking sounds when depressed. She hears the voices, what they say exactly holds no importance to her. She is here to scout and be ready to back Wildcat in the event of a problem. She begins moving out ahead of Wildcat, alert for the sounds of other people walking nearby, feeling the floor for changes in the rhythmic vibrations she and Wildcat are making. Wildcat carefully listens though. He hears about Markus and his failure to capture Liberty Belle. Good girl! About some strange Kung-Fu asian girl...he glances over at Cassandra when he overhears that report. He listens as they make plans to kill him, and other heroes that patrol Hobb's Bay like Wonder Girl. His mouth presses into a thin line of displeasure, his body tense and unhappy. His hands clench into tight fists tothe point that his knuckles crack. Oh yes, he's mad. There is a dark rage inside him right now, but his self-dicipline is above par. He hears about the plans to start a new gang war with one of the other gangs, and the best way to wipe them out, and other darker plans to increase the drug trade and the selling of illegal arms. Course, the language is all alien with the use of slang and foul language. Still, Wildcat waits, stepping back further into the shadows when people begin to file out. When the 'older gentleman' is noticed, he motions you to look toward him. He then locks his wrists together as if they are bound, to indiciate he wishes that man captured. As soon as Wildcat points, Cassandra is moving. She sees the target, knows what to do with him, and knows best how to not be seen while she does it. It might at first seem to Wildcat that she is moving too quickly to understand what he wants her to do, but the girl seems to have gotten the idea. She waits for an opportune moment before she moves to the older man's general location, staying beneath notice by literally being beneath line of sight. She follows the target until the perfect time to strike, and with the precision and stealth of one trained in assassination, she draws one arm around his mouth, the other moving him back with her into the darkness. She minimizes his ability to make noise by staying to the middle of the hallway she has chosen, bringing him to a secluded spot and waits for Wildcat. She will need to wait for a little while. The old man is noticable around all those younger men. And when Cassandra is in place, Wildcat makes his presence known as a distraction technique. He leaps down over the railing and starts showing them just what his worth is! In pain anyway. There is a great amount of chaos, it has people running for the exits and a few knocked out cold. It makes the younguns completely forget about their 'old leader'. It only takes him a few short minutes and a few minor bruises later before he comes walking down the hallway. He points toward the back of the building. He doesn't want to be here when the kids gather up their forces and include some automatic guns in the mix. He will offer to carry the old man if required. Cassandra offers over the unconscious gentleman to Wildcat, having rendered him so with a simple application of pressure to the neck, held there for long enough for his brain to stop receiving blood. She is headed for a window rather than back the way they came, at the rear of the place, sliding it open. Something has changed about her movements. Not simply those of a trained fighter or the stalking she seems to adopt even in the apartment, but her stride is faster, her movements more efficient and she seems to be in a prepared, focused state. All combat or co-ops that Cassandra performs, Wildcat watches closely. Cassandra is accepted, but is not taken for granted. The man is over Wildcat's shoulder until the window in which he passes him through to you. When he slides out, the man is back on his shoulder and he moves along the back alleyways to a more secluded location. A hang out place for the homeless, in an alleyway of abondoned buildings. Anyone that hears the man scream here, would be more likely to hide than anything else. Wildcat sets the older gentleman down and searches him, removing the gun on his person. Before trying to slap him awake. He glances over to you questioningly, as if to ask 'Will this guy wake up soon?' Cassandra moves with sleek grace, still acting as scout but not really needing to concern herself with being backup. She crouches by the unconscious man, feeling his neck-pulse, as though guaging it for something, then delivers a quick punch to his sternum, designed to deliver the sort of force that will break nothing, but one would certainly feel the blow. She steps back and lets the adrenaline flow through the man, having started the wakeup process earlier than his body was expecting to do. Wildcat winces a bit, feeling for the man. It is an older gentleman by many standards, in his 40s likely, white hair already. When the man comes sputtering awake, Wildcat speaks, "I already got rid of your gun," making reaching for it not an option now for the criminal. "This can be painful or easy. You answer my questions, I put you in police protective custody as a witness. You give me problems, and I'll extract the information I want and drop you off at your boss' front door," he says in a cold voice. The older gentleman coughs and winces in pain. He appears in pain, and nervous, sweaty even. "I...he will...kill me. Please, mercy..." Wildcat's eyes narrow dangerous, "Who is your boss?" His tone is hard and cold, his body language tense and ready to enact violence...intimidating. It is this that Cassandra observes closely. She has a good idea of what Wildcat is like in general, but it is here that she watches him for what is really there, at the core of his being. A man at his mercy, she knows he won't kill him, but she wants to see where this is going. She's ready to speak in the event that he is trying to deceive Wildcat. One of the benefits of knowing body language the way she does is the ability to spot deception, even if the person trying to deceive is doing their best to stay completely still. Even stillness can be a tell. "Mailed orders...blackmail...have no choice. Has my wife you see....please...mercy good sir, mercy." It's a lie. He's terrified of his boss, that's not a lie, but mailed orders? Blackmail? Wife? He's a good liar because he is so terrified, but there are signs. Wildcat reaches toward the older gentleman, or rather criminal and jerks on the front of his shirt. "You expect me to believe that? Mailed orders, and you don't want the cops to help save your wife?" He glances over to Cassandra, as if to search for her reaction. "No," Cassandra says, eyes narrowing. She does this and nothing more, letting Wildcat draw his own conclusions about context. She doesn't understand them, but Wildcat apparently does. The quiet girl moves in silence to another spot, not there when the man looks toward the sound of her voice. Cassandra is moving, able to see what the man intends to do, and there is a moment of pause about her. Just the briefest instant where she actually considers letting him do that. She holds no malice for this man, she has no desire to see him come to harm, but... the shout gets her back in the game, and she knocks it away. The hesistation causes Wildcat to look at you disapprovingly. He lets the sobbing man go after he is away from the glass. "Look, you have two choices. Go to the police, confess and act as a witness. They will provide protection. I'm not done with Dark Viper, and I won't ever be. Or you can go back to your boss and tell him that I'm hunting him. It's your choice." He's hoping the man opts for the police route so his friend can feed him additional info about the Dark Viper once the man has calmed down. Hesitation is probably one of those little kinks that the young catmasked girl will need to have worked out. She has otherwise executed every movement without the slightest flaw. She resumes being out of the man's sight though, preferring her unseen state to being watched. She may not want to see the man come to any particular harm, but she knows what he is capable of and what he has done with his weapon. She does not like him at all. Now that his sucide attempt failed, the older man realizes he would really like to live. If he goes to Dark Viper...failure again...he knows he is dead. "The...police...please...," his voice hoarse and broken sounding. A defeated man, one terrified and afraid, but knowing no other way out. He is cornered. Wildcat reaches into his other boot and pulls out his pre-paid cell phone and calls the detective Flannery. "Hey. Got one for you, protective custody. Willing to provide information on the Dark Viper, the one causing all the gang wars and increased drug and weapon trafficing, in exchange for protection." A moment of silence then, "Sure. I'll wait for you and hand him over personally. Thanks." He hangs up. "A detective is coming to pick you up personally in a plain car so not to draw attention. He will pull some favors. Depends how much you provide on how many favors he might be able to pull. My suggestion, be very /helpful/." Wildcat makes a point to keep track of Cassandra's general location. Luckily, it only takes about ten minutes before Flannery arrives. He is a tall black man with the signs of strain and stress on his face. The older criminal is handed over to Flannery by Wildcat, and he watches Flannery take off before going after you. The catmask girl does not go far. She stays in the vicinity, just remaining out of the older man's sight, and Flannery too when he arrives. It's habit she has picked up in her time on the streets of New York. Be unseen. Especially by anyone who wants to be an authority over her. Once Wildcat is alone, she is very easy to locate, as she comes into view again, looking up at him. Wildcat places his hands on his hips and sighs, "Why did you hesistate?" He then motions with his hands as he stays the rest, "He could have died," his motions including pointing to where the old man was with the glass to explain the 'He' part, and makeing one across his throat to explain the 'died' part. His expression is questioning, "Why you," and he points to you, "freeze?" And he stands suddenly very, very still for a moment before moving again by taking a step toward the spot of where the man almost died. This line of questioning does not end up with explanation. It just has reaction, which is a much less sleek and predatory girl. She has withdrawn somewhat visibly, looking somewhere between ashamed and saddened. Wildcat appears satisifed with that and moves toward you to place a hand gently and slowly upon one of your shoulders. "It's alright. Just don't let it happen again. Life is precious, even for scum." He wishes he could be sure he was understood, but his tone is comforting and accepting, but there is also a strength there. As if he still expects more from you even as he forgives. Cassandra regains that focused look, visible by her movements and even when she is still. She is already up to the roofs again with fluid movements to carry her upward, and she looks over the edge to watch Wildcat. This is her expressing readiness. A nod, and then Wildcat is soon after you. There will still be a few steps as Wildcat tries to find out more information on who Dark Viper is. He just hopes that Flannery can get more information out of the moron. Beyond the incident, the quiet girl presents no errors in judgement, no hesitation. She just seems to get it, Wildcat's plans of action, whether to keep her hidden completely or have her act, she simply does. A common occurrance arises, she seems to have some pre-conceived dislike of those who have taken life. She knows them very well, and in the heat of the fights, goes for them first. Category:Logs